


Get You a Divorce

by DisasterLesbean



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, Jewish Hermione Granger, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-29 20:02:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19837531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DisasterLesbean/pseuds/DisasterLesbean
Summary: “Your divorces are quite muggle.” It’s risky directly mentioning the divorce but she thinks she’ll explode if they continue to ignore it.





	Get You a Divorce

Lucius Malfoy’s sneer hasn’t diminished during his stay at Azkaban. “Miss Granger, take a wrong turn?” His hair is limp and overgrown, she tries not to take pleasure in the sight of it. 

“More like lost a bet.” The cruel line of his lips deepens with anger. “I need you to sign these.” She holds the papers aloft between them. She hadn’t really lost a bet. She just couldn’t make Draco do this. She couldn’t let Narcissa do this.

“I see.” His eyes glare at the extended papers, his nose twitching like an animal rearing up to strike. There’s enough hatred in the arrogant squaring of his shoulders that it makes her glad she volunteered. He doesn’t take the papers. “I need you to sign them.” 

He looks a movement away from spitting. She only hopes it’s on the papers and not her. “I don’t think I will. Tell my wife she can come here herself instead of sending her mudblood lapdog.”

She doesn’t drop her arm nor the papers. She knew coming here he wouldn’t cooperate. It’s why she didn’t let Draco or Narcissa come. Neither needed to fight this fight. Draco didn’t need to see his father like this and Narcissa didn’t need his cruel words. 

“Lucius.” His eyes snap to hers at the casual use of his name. 

“You would dare-“

“I would do more than dare. I advise you to sign these papers.” 

He walks towards her, violating her personal space. He stands too close, her hand and the papers press into his chest. It’s slightly heaving, likely with rage if his locked jaw is anything to go by. Hermione doesn’t move her hand, she doesn’t retreat nor flinch. She stands her ground and keeps the papers tucked into his breast.

“You do know what happens when lions overextend their power don’t you? Why don’t you ask the Potters?” 

“I will, I’m due to have tea with them soon anyways. I’ll be sure to give your grandson a kiss.” The guards tug Lucius back when he lunges.

“I will never sign those papers.” Lucius hisses at her.

Hermione wanders to the small window and looks out at the crashing waves. Azkaban isn’t as terrible without the Dementors but it’s still a prison. The same stones keep its inhabitants from the world. The prison condemns them one way or another. It’s still wet stone, overeager guards, and endless days. 

“You’ve had quite an easy time here haven’t you?” She traces a finger along the wrought iron bars on the window. “I could make that change with two words. I could ensure you are relocated to a cell without a window, a cell that reeks of your own stench, a cell much smaller than this one. You may even be able to sit after they starve you for a few weeks.” 

“You couldn’t do that.” He sounds sure. Sure, until one of the guards huff a laugh.

She turns an unimpressed look on Lucius. “All I’d have to do is walk from my office in the Ministry to any of the dozens of people with a grudge.”

“You wouldn’t even need to do that ma’am. The warden would be delighted to assist you.” The guard who’d laughed says. 

Lucius’ face twists, his superiority infiltrated by just enough hesitation that Hermione knows she’s won. “You don’t have that power.”

“Are you sure about that?” Hermione is channeling as much of Narcissa as she can in this moment. The surety Narcissa faces her opponents with, how she lets them destroy themselves with well placed words, even the slight uplift of a smug smile. 

Lucius assesses the situation, his stance faltering between attacking and standing his ground. He doesn’t know he’s already defeated. He sees the guards’ own body language. It’s open and eager. The guards are ready to drag him kicking and screaming to the cell in question. 

Who doesn’t have a grudge with Lucius Malfoy?

He must see this because his stance finally settles. He stands his ground but without any of the previous fight. “Give me the papers.” He snaps it like an order but no one in the cell is fooled. Everyone knows who won this confrontation. She passes the papers and the quill over and he signs his name in one ostentatious movement. 

“A pleasure.” Hermione takes the papers and moves to leave the room. Lucius shifts to stop her but is grabbed by the guards. “Yes?”

“Why come here?” 

“To get you to sign the papers.”

“Obviously! Why come here for my wife?”

“Ex-wife.” She gestures with the recently signed papers to rub the salt in.

“Why did you come here for her?” She always thought of Lucius as one of the more pathetic Death Eaters. He’s just money and pretentious tendencies, not necessarily terrifying like many of his cohorts. Seeing the violence that inhabits his body, makes his eyes narrow and hands tighten to fists, perhaps she should be more wary. 

She meets his narrowed angry eyes and lets it happen. She’s debated it, thought she wouldn’t do it. Now, she knows she must. She must because she’ll never see this man again. She must for no other reason than she can. 

She pulls Narcissa’s smile in place once more but adds the element that was missing before. It took Hermione ages to figure it out. How Narcissa can clearly communicate in microexpressions. They can barely change and yet contain entirely different meanings. It’s her eyes. 

Narcissa’s eyes communicate their own language. Even beginning to understand it takes many prerequisites. One must be close enough to Narcissa to even tell there’s a difference in many of her expressions. A laugh is good and well but with Narcissa it is rarely just a laugh. A smug smile is rarely just that. 

It was just that earlier when Hermione needed to get Lucius to sign the papers. Now, it’s something else. It’s something else because she knows Narcissa well enough to know what this expression means. The satisfaction that follows the curve of her smile, the secret wonder that crinkles the edges of her eyes, the challenging quirk of her brow. 

She’s seen that look many times over the years. It’s followed by skin, lips, teeth, and devastating want.

Lucius knows what it means too. 

She sees the moment it clicks. The anger drains from his expression and disbelief takes its place. He bodily sags in the guards grip and she leaves. She doesn’t need to use words, she doesn’t need to tell him anything. A look from Narcissa is worth a million words and he just saw the most damning. 

A petty part of her rejoices. It’s the part that hates Lucius and everything he represents. She shouldn’t take such pleasure in this but she finds herself standing taller. 

“How’d it go?” Draco is sitting at a table when she arrives back home. His hair is messy, likely from running his hands through it, and Hermione can smell the strength of his tea from here. 

“It’s done.” He nods and looks back down at his hands. She leaves him to his thoughts. No doubt he’s both troubled and relieved

Narcissa is sitting at her desk when Hermione enters. She’s bent over loose papers and her hand is moving non-stop. “Narcissa?” Narcissa looks up and blinks at her. She offers Hermione a small smile but she holds off, waiting for Hermione to answer the unspoken question. “He signed them.” Narcissa exhales but her expression doesn’t brighten much. 

Hermione wanders over and wraps an arm around Narcissa’s shoulders. Narcissa relaxes into Hermione and sets down her quill. Hermione can see the stress that’s been wearing on Narcissa. She looks tired and pale, as if she hasn’t slept in days. Considering the fact Hermione spends every night beside her, she knows Narcissa for a fact she hasn’t been sleeping well.

Their room is disorderly and messier than Narcissa usually allows it. Alchemical ingredients, papers, and books are strewn across surfaces. No clothes though. Narcissa apparently draws the line there. 

“Your divorces are quite muggle.” It’s risky directly mentioning the divorce but she thinks she’ll explode if they continue to ignore it.

“How so?” The slight hint of offense in Narcissa tone amuses rather than offends Hermione. 

“Sign a paper and it’s done.”

“It’s hardly that easy.” The offense has doubled and now Hermione has to fight the urge to start anything with Narcissa. They can argue over muggles any day, she’ll let Narcissa have today considering everything. “That’s only one part of a bigger whole. I had to bring it to the courts as well, not to mention the hours of either separating or claiming property. That’s just the legalities. I also have to sever our magical bond.”

“Magical bond?”

“Bonds exist between all things. Lucius and I were together for years, it won’t be the easiest task to sever it.” 

“My father had to go through a whole process with his first marriage as well.” 

“Your father was married before your mother?”

“Yeah, they don’t talk about it too much.”

“I thought muggles just sign a piece of paper?” 

“He originally got a civil divorce but he also had to give her a _get_ to satisfy _Halakha_.

“What’s a _get_?”

“It’s a document of divorce.” 

“More paperwork.” Narcissa sends a displeased look around the room at the mounds of paperwork she’s had to go through to divorce Lucius. 

Hermione rubs her thumb across Narcissa’s shoulder and kisses her temple. She knows that divorcing Lucius hurts Narcissa in more ways than one. It’s not just stressful and tedious, it’s emotionally taxing. Narcissa no doubt loved Lucius at some point, she could still love him, but she can’t forgive him. 

“Do you regret it?”

“I could never regret it, darling.” Narcissa turns her head and presses a kiss onto Hermione’s palm. 

“I don’t mean our relationship. I have no worries about your commitment to me. Do you regret divorcing him?”

“There could never truly be anything between us if I didn’t do it.” That smarts Hermione a bit. She thinks they’ve done fine all this time, even while Narcissa has still technically been married. It feels as if Narcissa is invalidating everything they’ve been. “Don’t give me that look.” Narcissa’s interrupts her thoughts, a layer of irritation to her voice. “Don’t intentionally misinterpret my thoughts, it’s unbecoming.” 

“I’d hate to be unbecoming.” Hermione’s words carry their own bite.

“I only mean it would have always haunted us. You would have always wondered where my loyalties lay.” She’s trying to guide them away from the argument that’s been building for days. She’s bowing out just as Hermione had earlier. Hermione allows it because she doesn’t want to fight either.

“I know where your loyalties are, I know where your heart is. I’ve never doubted it.” 

“Oh, never?” It’s a blatant challenge, Hermione rises to the bait. 

“Never.”

“Not even when I ended our relationship?” 

Hermione laughs at the reminder. It’s been months and the situation hasn’t failed to amuse the both of them. “At least Rita Skeeter got closer to the truth about my love life for once.”

“I do prefer it over her other articles.” Of course all the articles place her in relationships with just about anyone in the magical world. The articles about Victor particularly irk Narcissa. Hermione probably shouldn’t tease her as much as she does but Narcissa’s snippy jealously never fails to delight her. 

“What are you working on?” Hermione looks down to the parchment full of legal jargon.

“This paper ensures Draco is still recognized as a Malfoy.”

“Should I leave you to it?”

“Stay? While I finish it?” Narcissa rarely asks her for much and Hermione can deny her nothing. 

“Always.” 

She lets Narcissa finish the paperwork and walks around the room. She decides to tidy the place up. Once Narcissa is done with the paperwork and the worst of the stress fades she’ll likely be irritated by the state of the room. Hermione luckily has the time to head that off. 

She organizes papers into neater stacks and throws away the trash. She closes the books though she’s sure to spell it to open on the same page. She puts most of the ingredients away but notices some are still on the process of being mixed. She leaves most of those alone, not willing to risk Narcissa’s wrath if she messes anything up. 

“You cleaned?” Narcissa has a soft look that makes Hermione flush. It wasn’t that big of a deal but Narcissa makes it feel important. Narcissa makes most things feel important. 

“You didn’t finish this?” It’s an easy poultice to make. It’s kept moist by a simple spell. 

“I ran out of water.” Hermione kindly doesn’t point out the dozens of ways she easily could have gotten water. She does swear to herself she’ll make sure Narcissa starts getting proper rest. 

Hermione picks up the small bundle of the red flora and sticks it in her mouth. She chews it carefully as to not overly mince it and she spits the now wet ingredient in with the rest of the poultice. She uses a spell to preserve it and puts it away. She turns to Narcissa’s disgusted expression. 

“You savage.” Her nose is wrinkled and she looks utterly put out. She’s looking down on Hermione with no small amount of judgement. It reminds Hermione of their early days. She feels warmth blossom in her chest.

“Too good for my saliva now?” Hermione takes the chair Narcissa had vacated, eager to be off her feet. It’s been a long day, a long month really. The stress of preparing to go to Azkaban was almost as bad as doing it. The posturing necessary to bend Lucius’ will was exhausting. She’s glad he cracked.

She wouldn’t have moved him in the end. That’s not who she ever wants to be. She never wants to become a version of herself who would hurt others just for vengeance. She also knows despite the complicated relationship between Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco moving Lucius would have hurt Narcissa and Draco. It took a lot of lying and mind games to get that signature. 

She can’t help the sigh at finally getting to relax. 

Hermione looks back over to Narcissa in time to catch her hiding a smile. Narcissa attempts to bring back her haughty expression but her cover has been blown. “Stop looking so self-satisfied.”

“You’re right. This relationship can only handle one ego.”

“I’d be more careful. I’m a free woman now.” 

“What will I tell Draco? Your mother left me because I told her the truth?”

“He wouldn’t blame me for a moment.” Hermione knows it’s true. Narcissa could likely do anything and still have Draco’s support, he’s the biggest mama’s boy Hermione has ever met.

“You can keep him then.” Hermione says before letting her head fall back. As happy as she is to be with Narcissa she wouldn’t mind resting. A small nap maybe, just to recharge for the day.

“You know,” Hermione knows that tone and knows rest is unlikely, “another stipulation of magical divorce states I must take a new lover.”

Hermione cracks one eye open to see Narcissa approaching. “I’m not sure I count as a new lover.”

“Chronologically, you’d be a new lover after getting officially divorced.”

Hermione leans back in her chair and thanks her luck to have Narcissa in her life. She predicts Narcissa’s path and uses her foot to push her chair far enough back so Narcissa can slide onto the desk in front of her. “Are you sure that’s true?”

“Would I lie to you?”

“Miss Black, I believe you are capable of all sorts of things.” Narcissa’s eyes darken at the use of her maiden name.

“Care to find out what sorts of things?”


End file.
